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Sunday, September 21, 2014

The OSR for the Lapsed Gamer - The Timeline

I figure if we are going to present the OSR RPGs in some sort of order, actual release dates should have some sort of influence on that order. Then the question became: "has anyone done such a list?"

I'm going to use "full" release dates, not previews and such, so the initial order of the free OSR releases that are being highlighted will be:

OSRIC - 1/20/07

BFRPG 2/17/07

Labyrinth Lord 8/4/07

Swords & Wizardry 10/15/08 (note - S&W comes in 3 versions and a number of rule sets use it for the base of their variant. Each version of S&W will get it's own post. The variant rules will get a post at the end where applicable)

15 comments:

What about Torch and Sword? It was a free PDF release, the.closest to original DND released on July 14, 2011. It is my preferred Retroclone. I like it better than the three LBB since it is better organized.

Ordering OSRIC and BFRPG relative to one another is tough. Using the "final version" release date for each is certainly one way to do it. The energy both games generated certainly overlapped (and even reinforced one-another).

But for most practical purposes BFRPG was first.

OSRIC wasn't initially meant to be played; it was meant entirely as a legal safe harbor publishing vehicle, so you could play OSRIC-compatible stuff with the real 1e. And to that end, it had fully satisfied its goal well before 1/20/2007. Nine OSRIC modules (and 20-odd other accessories) were published before the "final" OSRIC release, starting as early as Aug 2006.

By contrast, BFRPG was absolutely meant to be played* (a spiritual successor to B/X D&D, modulo some fantasy heartbreaker changes—something of a bridge between B/X and 3e that leaned heavily toward the B/X side, effectively (if not intentionally) an alternative to Castles & Crusades) and so it necessarily was in usable form long before it was "complete" ... and certainly usable before OSRIC-compatible products came out. Its other goal was to be an in-print game, but this didn't happen until the Feb 2007 date. BFRPG was also the release vehicle for modules prior to its release date. Two modules were out in June & July 2006; certainly BFRPG was playable enough by that point. With some research on dragonsfoot, you could probably nail down when people were actually playing BFRPG.

BFRPG took the first visible steps (from where C&C left off) a couple months before OSRIC was conceived. (Both games were borne from the promise of momentum [products!] that had been built up by C&C. OSRIC very explicitly so, and BFRPG effectively so, because BFRPG was compared to C&C due to its bridge qualities.) And really, the spark of energy & momentum is what's important from a historical/understanding perspective. BFRPG sparked before OSRIC, though OSRIC ultimately burnt much brighter. Some of OSRIC's design goals were conceived in relation to BFRPG (arguably in *reaction* to BFRPG), so BFRPG influenced OSRIC, whereas the reverse is not really true.

Not sure but the beta is as good as many full releases, it is complete, laid out nice for tablet, has art and index plus an appendix of optional rules. Best one out there in my humble opinion. - doesn't get talked about enough -for free - you can get started gaming like it is 1974.

If one is really considering this for the "Lapsed Fantasy Gamer" is it worth noting A) What system these are mostly clones of - i.e. Lab Lord and S&W are Moldvay or Mentzer basic clones, OSRIC is sorta an AD&D clone and LOTFP is a Mentzer Clone with peculiarities. B) That the Moldvay Basic and Expert books are sold as cheap PDFs on RPGNow. C) That many of these clone rulesets have free online versions and that regardless of the system used (possibly not including some outliers with rule variants like S&W Whitebox's LBB's rules or LOTFP's eccentricities) most 'OSR' rulesets are largely interchangeable, and fully compatible with 90% of OSR blog content?

b) the inquiries I've gotten via email are asking "what's in print that plays like my youth?" In the first round of systems I'll be posting about, I'll be looking at those that are free in PDF. When I move on to pay for PDF and print only systems, I'll touch upon the originals.

c) I'd say most of the clones that closely emulate the originals are closer to 95% compatible with all the OSR resources available. that said, I'm looking at the systems now, not the blogs. If they've found The Tavern, they've found my blog roll ;)

While not free I think you should really look at the 1st OSR game, in my opinion, which would be HackMaster. It came out in....2001 and was only possible specifically because D&D was moving to 3.0 and TSR thought the old rules weren't worth anything other than settling a lawsuit.

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (thank you Kickstarter) (edit) BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and will soon have some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep shipping shortly in my grubby hands awaiting a review..

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls (and still waiting on dT&T to ship).

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 48, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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